Movie Review: Peppermint

On Alias, Jennifer Garner became a genuine star in a show where she sought revenge against a group who killed her fiancé. With the help of J.J. Abrams, Garner was the rare female badass action hero in which the audience had actual stakes in her mission. Almost twenty years later, Garner has been married and become a mother, and her latest action character in Peppermint has grown in much the same way. Garner has proven that she can pull off emotional resonance through a badass figure, but unfortunately Garner can’t save what it easily one of the worst films of 2018.

Garner plays Riley North, who witnesses her husband and daughter gunned down in a drive-by on her daughter’s birthday. The reasoning? Her husband simply considered, and then turned down, an offer by his friend to steal from a local drug dealer. The three killers are set free due to an obviously corrupt judicial system, but not before Riley attempts to laughably attack them while still in court. The judge sentences Riley to a mental institution, but she makes her escape and goes on the lam for five years.

On the five year anniversary of her family’s death, the three murderers are inexplicably found hanging upside down from a ferris wheel near where Riley’s watched her family get gunned down. The judge and lawyers in the case have all been found dead on the same day, and despite the police’s ambivalence that this could all be connected, the truth is Riley is back and ready for revenge against anyone responsible for her family’s destruction.

Peppermint’s story of retribution is one of the most inept and perplexingly stupid action films to get a wide release in recent memory. Director Pierre Morel (Taken) films Peppermint with all the care of a 2000s nü-metal music video (less Korn, more Adema), with the awful soundtrack to match. Morel consistently uses a technique which seems like the projector is shuttering and shaking whenever action starts, and it’s used at nearly any slight pitch in action. With a screenplay by Chad St. John, whose name suggests he works in porn, Riley seemingly has an ability to transcend the limits of space and time. Riley will appear in places that make no sense considering what came before and after, and her apparent knowledge of every villain’s location is unparalleled and idiotic.

St. John and Morel don’t even bother adding any moral ambiguity to Riley’s plight, despite heavily hinting at it in Riley’s origin story. When Riley’s daughter Carly (Cailey Fleming) suggests that her mother should punch another mother’s lights out, Riley calmly states that such actions would only make her as bad as the asshole mommy. Cut forward five years, Riley breaks into that other mother’s house, mocks her for losing her husband, holds a gun to her head – which causes her to urinate on herself – and then joke about burning her house down with her in it. This is played for laughs, as if of course Riley has earned the ability to treat other people this way. After all, Riley is on a mission of justice, and the people of the shanty town that she lives in consider her their guardian angel. Anyone that gets in Riley’s way is deserving of what they get.

Also suspect is how Morel constantly reinforces stereotypes, especially with the many Latino gangsters that fill Peppermint. Riley actually attacks a group of mobsters in a piñata factory and very rarely does Riley kill a non-white person. St. John’s screenplay even plays with the idea that we’ll expect one cop to be bad solely because he’s not white. The way many of these villains become caricatures is lazy and borderline racist.

This is arguably Garner’s worst film ever, in a career that has included films about butter sculpting competitions, a talking Kevin Spacey cat, raising a plant boy, and two dudes trying to find their car. Garner still can pull off action effectively when she needs to, but Morel does her no favor with his terrible direction. Morel has Garner jumping into a piñata factory with flying candy, like a low budget John Woo film, or in unintentionally hilarious action sequences set right after Riley has lost her family. Morel and St. John hint at an explanation for Riley’s missing five years that includes trips overseas, underground fighting rings and bank robberies, but these are only mentioned in passing, as opposed to giving us some added depth to Riley’s story.

In the hunt for Riley are LAPD detectives Stan Carmichael (John Gallagher Jr.) and Moises Beltran (John Ortiz), both actors who deserve far better than the cliche cop one-liners that St. John feed them. Their banter is embarrassing and would feel cheesy even for a CBS cop show. It’s exhausting watching these talented actors being relegated to such horrible dialogue. And for some reason, the LAPD sideplot introduces Method Man as a narcotics detective very late in the third act, in a role that could’ve easily gone to literally anyone.

Peppermint is embarrassing proof that Hollywood has a problem creating strong female action roles, even for actresses who have more than proven they are capable. Peppermint is an ugly, paper-thin, moronic revenge fantasy that wants the audience to revel in constant bloodshed and deserved anger. Peppermint is irredeemable and garbage in every way. Garner’s next revenge mission should be taking out whoever convinced her this was a good idea.

3 Responses

Overall score: 4%, audience score on rottentomatoes: 80% (1817 reviews). Without even reading your review, your score sucks! Off course it sucks, if you were a bit close to the audience score I would give you the benefit of the doubt but yeah seriously… good thing I can say that you suck big time at reviewing movies. I hope you get fired!

Thank you for your response! Always great to meet a fan!
I would like to point out that the critic score for Peppermint is also an 11%, so apparently I’m not the only one that feels this is a terrible, terrible film. A combined score of people who might not have even seen the film might not actually be the best way to judge whether or not a film is good or not. Films like Scary Movie 5, Grandma’s Boy and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull also have around the same audience score as Peppermint, and those aren’t very good either.

I’d also like to mention that since the invention of personal thought and opinion, people have had differentiating opinions on all sorts of things! It’s wild! Different people like and hate different things all the time! So again, thank you for your opinion, and remember that it’s okay if people have different thought than yourself.

Event Details

Norm Macdonald is best known for his 4 year stint on Saturday Night live where Chevy Chase noted he was the best anchor to ever grace the chair. He is

more

Event Details

Norm Macdonald is best known for his 4 year stint on Saturday Night live where Chevy Chase noted he was the best anchor to ever grace the chair. He is a favorite guest on Late Night shows, having performed the final stand-up set ever on David Letterman. Mr. Letterman referred to Norm as the funniest man in the world. Conan O’Brien also lists Norm as his favorite guest. After leaving SNL, Norm starred in 2 movies, one being the cult classic “Dirty Work” and also appears in many Adam Sandler films, including his first “Billy Madison”, where Norm played Adam’s best friend. Norm also starred in 3 television series. This year he became a judge on “Last Comic Standing” as well as portraying Colonel Sanders in an avant-garde Series of spots for KFC. His tour-de force anti comedy roast of Bob Saget became an instant classic, as well as the five- minute “Moth Joke” on Conan which received a full one-minute laugh. These, though, are only experiments Norm tries out on TV appearances.It is still Norm’s stand-up which is his pure gift. His 2011 Comedy Special “Me Doing Stand-up” was hailed by The Guardian as one of the best Stand-up Specials of all time and Comedy Central name him in their top 100 comedians of all time. Norm retires all material he has used on specials and guarantees that no two shows will ever be identical. If you know Norm Macdonald, but do not know his stand-up, you do not know him. He is a stand-up comedian who must be seen to be believed.

Event Details

In a rare evening program, multimedia artist Martha Rosler, currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Jewish Museum in New York, discusses her practice with the Gallery's James

Event Details

In a rare evening program, multimedia artist Martha Rosler, currently the subject of a major retrospective at the Jewish Museum in New York, discusses her practice with the Gallery’s James Meyer, curator of art, 1945–1974. The program will be streamed live at nga.gov/live.

Cost

Event Details

The first Houses release in five years, Drugstore Heaven, marks a major artistic shift for L.A.-based songwriter/producer Dexter Tortoriello. Abandoning the heady concepts of his previous records for some

more

Event Details

The first Houses release in five years, Drugstore Heaven, marks a major artistic shift for L.A.-based songwriter/producer Dexter Tortoriello. Abandoning the heady concepts of his previous records for some of his tightest songwriting yet, Tortoriello is embracing the most fascinating character in his musical universe: himself.In 2010, Houses released their full-length debut All Night via Lefse Records — a Portland, Oregon-based label who signed the band two weeks after Tortoriello shared the project’s first single via Tumblr. The following year, Diplo tracked him down after finding his more darkly-charged project Dawn Golden on Bandcamp. In addition to signing Dawn Golden to Mad Decent, Diplo began bringing Tortoriello into co-writing sessions, which soon led to his work as a writer/featured vocalist for such artists as Martin Garrix, Ryan Hemsworth, and What So Not.

The past five years have been undeniably busy for Tortoriello. After relocating from Chicago to LA, he released Houses’ sophomore album A Quiet Darkness via Downtown Records in 2013, along with a debut full-length as Dawn Golden the following spring. A slate of high-profile remixes for Major Lazer, Kings of Leon and Odesza established him as a dance world heavyweight, while writing and producing for artists like Lil Yachty, Kali Uchis, and Kiiara refined his songcraft. And while he initially compartmentalized his creative efforts, Drugstore Heaven finds him drawing from these experiences, creating Houses’ most fully realized and complexly detailed output to date – a selection of songs matching graceful experimentation with raw emotion and unprecedented vulnerability.

“All of the Houses material to date has been very escapist,” Tortoriello says. “You can fall into a spell where real life is something you tune in and out of, something you feel no authorship over. I’ve focused my efforts over the last few years on building and reinforcing things I don’t wish to escape from: relationships, groups, creative outlets, ideas, workflows. I found a much deeper type of freedom in taking ownership over my life and committing myself to really living it.”

Drugstore Heaven delivers a dynamically textured sound partly shaped by Tortoriello’s exploration of rave and drum-and-bass artists from the late ’90s. “At the time all that stuff was coming out, electronic music was just being discovered, so there was this really pioneering sense of what was possible,” he says. The lead single “Fast Talk,” featuring backing vocals of longtime Houses member Megan Messina, unfolds in hazy rhythms formed from chopped-up breakbeats and live percussion from timpani, glockenspiel, and a couple bottles of antidepressant medication. “That song is meant to be a memorial for a group of friends I had back in my late teens,” explains Tortoriello, adding, “Thematically it’s almost like a ballet where you keep driving around the same blocks, and people start disappearing from the car because they’re going to jail or dying.”

Growing up outside Chicago, Tortoriello first started making music in his early teens, mostly by attempting to emulate the drum-and-bass-meets-speed-metal freakouts of Atari Teenage Riot. (“I’d record myself playing drums onto cassette, then double-speed the tape and play synthesizers over it,” he recalls. “It was an abomination.”). Sonic references to his teenage experimentation make melancholic rave workout “Years” all the more poignant, as Tortoriello examines the anxiety of ageing and the ennui of early adulthood in his lyrics.

On Drugstore Heaven, embracing the personal also has its joyful side. The EP’s punchiest moment, “Left Alone,” emerges as bright and bouncy anthem celebrating the bliss of solitude, while closer “Pink Honey” is a lavishly romantic number built on ethereal vocals, delicate guitar tones, and luminous synth. “I was trying to turn that one into a sweeping love song, like something out of Casablanca,” says Tortoriello.

For Tortoriello, the deepest achievement of Drugstore Heaven lies in building a body of work that feels entirely true to the world in his head. “In the past I’ve felt self-conscious about the person I put forth in my music, but these songs feel very reflective of who I really am,” he says. Being this open still feels new to him, but for the listener, it’s a rewarding glimpse into the mind of a vital and forward-thinking artist.

Cost

Event Details

The Comet is Coming is the soundtrack to an imagined apocalypse. In the aftermath of widespread sonic destruction what sounds remain? Who will lead the survivors to new sound worlds?

more

Event Details

The Comet is Coming is the soundtrack to an imagined apocalypse. In the aftermath of widespread sonic destruction what sounds remain? Who will lead the survivors to new sound worlds? Who will chart the new frontier?

In a warehouse somewhere in London 2013 a meeting would take place between three musical cosmonauts. They would pool their energies to build a vessel powerful enough to transport any party into outer space. King Shabaka (Sons of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down), Danalogue and Betamax (Soccer96).

Together they chart a path based on the encoded language of Sun Ra, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and the BBC Radiophonic Workshops from which the band’s name emerged.

It is after the end of the world, the stage is a spacecraft, the mic is an accelerator. brace yourself for The Comet is Coming.

Cost

Event Details

There’s a great scene in The Last Waltz – the documentary about The Band’s final concert – where director Martin Scorsese is discussing music with drummer/singer/mandolin player Levon Helm. Helm

more

Event Details

There’s a great scene in The Last Waltz – the documentary about The Band’s final concert – where director Martin Scorsese is discussing music with drummer/singer/mandolin player Levon Helm. Helm says, “If it mixes with rhythm, and if it dances, then you’ve got a great combination of all those different kinds of music: country, bluegrass, blues music, show music…”To which Scorsese, the inquisitive interviewer, asks, “What’s it called, then?”“Rock & roll!”Clearly looking for a more specific answer, but realizing that he isn’t going to get one, Marty laughs. “Rock & roll…”Well, that’s the way it is sometimes: musicians play music, and don’t necessarily worry about where it gets filed. It’s the writers, record labels, managers, etc., who tend to fret about what “kind” of music it is.And like The Band, the members of Railroad Earth aren’t losing sleep about what “kind” of music they play – they just play it. When they started out in 2001, they were a bunch of guys interested in playing acoustic instruments together. As Railroad Earth violin/vocalist Tim Carbone recalls, “All of us had been playing in various projects for years, and many of us had played together in different projects. But this time, we found ourselves all available at the same time.”Songwriter/lead vocalist Todd Sheaffer continues, “When we started, we only loosely had the idea of getting together and playing some music. It started that informally; just getting together and doing some picking and playing. Over a couple of month period, we started working on some original songs, as well as playing some covers that we thought would be fun to play.” Shortly thereafter, they took five songs from their budding repertoire into a studio and knocked out a demo in just two days. Their soon-to-be manager sent that demo to a few festivals, and – to the band’s surprise – they were booked at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival before they’d even played their first gig. This prompted them to quickly go in and record five more songs; the ten combined tracks of which made up their debut album, “The Black Bear Sessions.”That was the beginning of Railroad Earth’s journey: since those early days, they’ve gone on to release five more critically acclaimed studio albums and one hugely popular live one called, “Elko.” They’ve also amassed a huge and loyal fanbase who turn up to support them in every corner of the country, and often take advantage of the band’s liberal taping and photo policy. But Railroad Earth bristle at the notion of being lumped into any one “scene.” Not out of animosity for any other artists: it’s just that they don’t find the labels very useful. As Carbone points out, “We use unique acoustic instrumentation, but we’re definitely not a bluegrass or country band, which sometimes leaves music writers confused as to how to categorize us. We’re essentially playing rock on acoustic instruments.”Ultimately, Railroad Earth’s music is driven by the remarkable songs of front-man, Todd Sheaffer, and is delivered with seamless arrangements and superb musicianship courtesy of all six band members. As mandolin/bouzouki player John Skehan points out, “Our M.O. has always been that we can improvise all day long, but we only do it in service to the song. There are a lot of songs that, when we play them live, we adhere to the arrangement from the record. And other songs, in the nature and the spirit of the song, everyone knows we can kind of take flight on them.” Sheaffer continues: “The songs are our focus, our focal point; it all starts right there. Anything else just comments on the songs and gives them color. Some songs are more open than others. They ‘want’ to be approached that way – where we can explore and trade musical ideas and open them up to different territories. But sometimes it is what the song is about.”So: they can jam with the best of them and they have some bluegrass influences, but they use drums and amplifiers (somewhat taboo in the bluegrass world). What kind of music is it then? Mandolin/vocalist John Skehan offers this semi-descriptive term: “I always describe it as a string band, but an amplified string band with drums.” Tim Carbone takes a swing: “We’re a Country & Eastern band! ” Todd Sheaffer offers “A souped-up string band? I don’t know. I’m not good at this.” Or, as a great drummer/singer/mandolin player with an appreciation for Americana once said: “Rock & roll!”

Event Details

Elizabeth Alexander and Manthia Diawara in person

Two artists — painter Ficre Ghebreyesus (1962 – 2012) from Asmara in Eritrea and filmmaker Manthia Diawara from Bamako in Mali — meet metaphorically in this program focusing on their work. Political refugees, activists, scholars, artists, and storytellers, both men settled in the United States and found themselves working odd jobs, joining the African American community of poets, and hunkering down within their own artistic practice. Ficre Ghebreyesus’s epic painting The Sardine Fisherman’s Funeral centers on the abebuu adekai, the figurative coffin of the Ga people in Ghana, replete with symbols, historical references, and Eritrean iconography expressing a depth of feeling for the power of the sea. Manthia Diawara’s film An Opera of the World (2017), based on the African opera Bintou Were, mines the Malian filmmaker’s own migration experience against the backdrop of recent tragedies on the Mediterranean Sea. Diawara’s film features contemporary philosophers and employs footage of refugees in exodus, probing cinema’s power to bear witness. Manthia Diawara and Elizabeth Alexander — poet, essayist, playwright, scholar, and president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation — discuss and contrast both of these works (Ghebreyesus’s painting and Diawara’s film) following the screening. (Approximately 100 minutes)